August 27, 2025
Dear students,
It has been wonderful seeing so many of you this week, and saying hello during move-in, orientation, and Bulldog Bash. Your energy and excitement make the year feel like it's getting off to a great start. The year also holds so much promise for learning and community.
A particular highlight of orientation was the series of “ways of knowing” talks, where faculty from different disciplines explored how we can be certain about knowledge, and how the disciplines contribute to it. In my session with over 100 first-year and transfer students, I kicked things off by asking them why they chose to come to Yale. "Community," "opportunity," "people," "education," and "academics" came up again and again in their responses, and a few others especially stood out:
“Challenging, intellectual, collaborative”
“Curiosity, Conversations, Academics, and the Arts”
“Exploration and intellectual + social development”
“Financial aid”
“Intellectual diversity and passion”
“New Haven pizza”
“People, rigor, wonder”
“School pride and amazing community.”
If you are coming to Yale for the first time for any of the above reasons, or for entirely different ones, I hope you will find here the community that will support your education and development. If you are a returning student or are just thinking about what major to choose or starting work on a senior research project, I hope that you have found here what you have sought—and maybe some pleasant surprises as well.
At the opening assembly, I spoke about flourishing. You can find my remarks here. I hope each one of you flourishes during the coming academic year, and I am excited about all that we will accomplish together.
Sincerely,
Pericles Lewis
Dean of Yale College
Douglas Tracy Smith Professor of Comparative Literature Professor of English
Announcements
Add/Drop Period continues until Friday, September 5
Learn more →
Men’s and Women’s Soccer Seasons are starting
Men host Syracuse next Monday, September 1, at 4:00 p.m.
Women host UConn on Thursday September 4., at 7:00 p.m.